Trolley System
Sitemap '---------------------------------------------------' Trams and Trolleys '---------------------------------------------------' SEE ALSO Transportation_Systems --- --- --- --- --- Metro - Transit for the Common Man : The Metro System must have been considered early in Raptures construction for the interconnecting 'streets' to be designed with Trolley tracks included (and possibly as several separate 'local' Trolley companies). Some Trolley tracks may have been able to be retrofitted into some 'streets' and some new construction to expand/consolidate the system. The Atlantic Express simply was not flexible/extensive/convenience enough to serve alot of the city's transportation needs. After Kincaide bought out the smaller lines, a comprehensive integrated Citywide system was able to serve the city efficiently and to drive the AE out of most of its city passenger business. The Bathyspheres were largely inconsequential due to their limited capacity and premium expense. --- --- --- Trolley System Details ''' : * Double trolley tracks (one each direction) are part of the Street Grid and are the primary mass transit system. * The grid has numerous lines running parallel and perpendicular to each other across the city (intersecting at the 'hubs') * Trolleys can carry only about 12 people, but multiple cars 'trains' are run during high traffic periods. * Trolley Car size was kept small to negotiate tight corners and to minimize chance/results of getting stuck in street Pressure Safety Doors * Trolleys had no operators originally and were an automatic system. Currently they have motormen operators because much of the automatic system is still damaged. * Automation/automatic in the 'Core Loop' has been restored (with hopes of expanding the restoration further). * Trolley Freight units can move larger machinery and bulk material (scheduled at night to avoid day traffic) * Trolley system had many 'siding' tracks into building/factories for major freight delivery. * Double track system (one direction each side) to optimize traffic flow during peak periods (Rush Hour). * Trolley barns/repair facilities are in various locations (decentralized) * Less caricature-like trolleys likely would be created. --- --- --- '''Reasons Why the Trolley System would be the Main Transit System in Rapture : Flexibility - AE Trains - 90 ton behemoths (built with thick metal to withstand the water pressure) when the Trolleys don't go into the water, and don't need to seal up like a submarine (or worse -- to seal up constantly within seconds, and safely, over and over). Power probably isn't a limitation, but less machinery needed to drive something that weighs a fraction of the 'swimming-safes' the Bathyspheres, Trains, Submarines HAVE to be utterly safe. Trolley Inexpensive and Less overhead : * AE Trains and Bathyspheres have complex Station facilities (and need fueling/charging mechanisms) * Trolley costs less per customer carried. Car mechanisms are simpler and less expensive to buy and maintain. * Are easier to repair with less potential of fatalities if something goes wrong. * Bathyspheres have too much operational overhead. They are NOT like cars, as they require extensive facilities to operate them. Potentially, Trolleys can move faster (no water resistance), Less delays - quicker more frequent stops (AE trains are like a Subway, Trolleys are like Buses.) The Trolley has no airlocks to wait to go in and out of the water, and can have Station stops at any point along its length. All of the above - less expense overhead to operate (even as a city service (Metro), lower costs means more/larger system for Citizens to use -- more utility) Trains are too heavyweight and run infrequently which is more suited to longer distance travel like the AE lines that connect to the communities outside Rapture. A visible Example is the Multiplayer Apartment's Bathysphere systemry (only a fraction of which you actually see), which is much larger than the apartment, and that one 'hole' is supposed to serve a group of apartments. There is no place to park multiple Subs (and unless they all operate as Taxis, there HAS to be places to park individually owned ones -- at both ends of every trip - you cannot leave that dock/hole blocked to other traffic). --- --- --- Metro Trolley System : ' Anton Kinkaide consolidate Raptures various Trolley system in to one. Many small local Trolley routes had been built, but some were ineffectively run. So, as often happens, smaller struggling companies are bought out by a large one, building a larger better connected system, redundancies are eliminated, equipment standardized, and economy of scale increases efficiency. A system was built up that did a better job moving passengers around Rapture, so that it outcompeted the Atlantic Express, which was not as flexible or cost effective. The Bathyspehere system, though integrated into the 'Metro Transit', was too high end for the majority of the daily passengers who routinely criss-crossed Rapture, going to work or shopping or to school. In Rapture, there were no real roads (or hardly any such significant system) for automobiles - which were the surface things, along with buses, which drove many of the Real World Trolley systems out of business. Those Toonerville Trolleyhttps://www.imdb.com/title/tt0027123/ caricature cars (we saw in BioShock 1) could be some of the equipment from the earlier independent routes, and had been retained/kept operating for heavy Rush hour traffic and special extra traffic events (like Football games at the Stadium, or various Fair events). We see these old Trolley cars in BS1 having been put back into service after newer Metro equipment had been damaged or destroyed by the Civil War fighting. Note - as mentioned before, the Trolleys shown in BS1 were a laughable misrepresentation caricature of what the system would HAVE TO BE in Rapture. --- --- --- '''Consolidation of the Trolley System (Metro) ' : Slowdown of city construction caused excess capacity and lowered expenses, which was an opportunity to obtain 'distressed businesses cheap and to also do new construction cheap. The Trolleys only move through Sea-level atmosphere interiors ('RSP' - Rapture Standard Pressure), so tunnels/viaducts had to be constructed to allow that travel method to operate. They did not require the huge AE/Bathysphere stations and all their complicated/expensive equipment/machinery/facilities/installations. The Trolleys/Trams, because they did not have to go out into the water, used much simpler mechanisms, and eliminated the delays of waiting for airlocks to cycle (done twice each stop). Small local preexisting Trolley businesses were consolidated, offering better and more regular connectivity to the customers. New city expansions (ie - suburbs) were added as Rapture's population slowly increased. They would have the new efficient system built-in. Additional 'Streets' sections of Rapture were expanded along the Trolley extensions. Expanded freight shipping via Trolley added to the businesses income. Given a little more time, the public Bathyspheres component of the Metro (Rapture Transit) itself would be phased out, as ridership fell because of its high expense (overhead of all those complex systems and limited capacity) and inflexibility. ---- ---- Other track. Near Olympus Heights end of Apollo Square trolley tracks - looks like a blocked continuation beyond (better than those ridiculous (caricature) 300 - 400 ft tracks depicted in BS1). Other tracks have bumpers at their ends. That hole in the building structure (covered/blocked by corregated metal) is large enough to let the Trolley cars through. ---- On my Rapture map (below) the Solid Black lines are 'Streets' somewhat like the viaduct (seen in the picture above) except that several-story buildings line one or both side of a track/pair of Trolley tracks down the center. You can see that the trolley system links most of the city (which it would have to to be effective). The AE system (Black dotted lines) is less effective in going everywhere (and required other connections to get to). The Bathysphere Network (Yellow lines) connect many places, but at a premium price above what the majority of Raptures citizens could pay for commuting. ---- Rapture Metro Trolley looking better before Civil War (actually a Freight car used when newer units had been all wrecked -- its an older pre-consolidation model which had been relegated to delivering freight around the city). Its type of wasteful styling was out by the turn of the century (1900), when maximizing interior space/capacity was more important (and you would have thought it should have a streamlined look for Rapture...) ---- Some of the Tram (Rapture Metro Trolley) stations in Rapture might have looked like this. The advantage was not having to go through 2 airlocks every stop (a real time waster). The consolidated trolley system would have been more influential in bankrupting the AE Passenger service than the expensive/inconvenient Bathysphere system, or some alleged increase in use of similarly expensive private Submarines. (artists create fantasy, when Rapture didn't run on fantasy). ---- Technology : Electric trams that don't have to go through water (overhead wires had only been used for 50 years in the real world so had been pretty much perfected) No need for battery (AE Trains probably needed those) The 'street' level they run along can be 'flush' and double used for other transportation (bicycles, walking path) Automatic systems could be done later (McClendon electronics). Originally the trams would have an operator. --- --- --- 'One Advantage the Metro Trolley System Had ' : Trolleys usually run directly on electricity on their track (whereas the AE had to use self-contained power units, which had to operate under water - probably batteries). The Trolleys also did not require any sophisticated air systems (nor maintain "hull integrity") as they never were 'outside' Rapture's pressurized interior spaces. So the Trolleys would be simpler vehicles to maintain and operate (beside their allowing easier/faster passenger stops). That's a significant factor in a City where the transportation being 'subsidized' would NOT happen (with tax-payer money - as just about EVERY public transport in the World is) . ---- ---- Commentary This is where that strange/pitiful tram design came from - recycling some concept art. Not much to a Trolley Station. Track flush with a pavement surface (allowing other traffic). Minimal stopping time is REQUIRED for frequent 'stops' (actually can stop anywhere on its path). The AE was more like a Subway System. --- --- --- 'Automatic Running Of Trolleys ' : Added in Early 1950s by McClendon Robotics (Part of the Rapture Transit Consolidation) * Earlier Trolley versions had a human operator (as seen in the design of the older abandoned ones in Apollo Square area) - these would have a "Deadman's Switch" safety device. Labor is a major expense in operating the Trolleys. * Trolleys equipt with radio for Train Orders * Fare Collection (Nothing is 'Free' in Rapture) - with Access to Station as seen for 'Metro' in BS1 * Signal Controller (Track Occupation Detection systems already well developed in Real World) - Signal Light indicators for 'blocks' (later including repeater in cab), * Central Traffic Control (CTC) controlling system-wise routings (remote controls of switches) * Automatic Stop, early with shoe trips, but later with radio transmitters/receivers to communicate to the Trolley. * Track Scanner for obstruction Auto-Braking (same Sonic echo & Proximity Radar system later used on Flybots) * CTC upgraded with computer routing system (early Realtime use for computers) * The Old Safety Device that scoops a pedestrian from going under the wheels Similar systems on Bathyspheres (On Cables) and Mk2 Atlantic Express Sorry no fully '''Automatic running of : Bathyspheres, or Trolleys, or Atlantic Express Trains BY The Thinker (or anything else). Communications links are too problematic for the required SAFETY, or for some 'magical 'Autopiloting' -- no matter how smart the central computer is. Even the Flybots in Rapture were largely operator controlled/directed (and they did not carry passengers to endanger). --- --- --- That Brass Decorative Portal on the Trolleys(Trams) ? : Trolleys in BS1 look like they were decorated to look similar to the Bathyspheres (brass trim, lights, that odd circular porthole doorway). The 'Metro' style was an attempt by Anton Kinkaide to unify the transit system in people's minds, versus the disorganized set of local systems which existed previously, before the city-wide consolidation (1952-1953). Equipment was standardized (including automation), routes were better organized and cross-linked and expanded, long distance connections created to improve utility to Rapture's citizens (and the systems paying customers). The Bathyspheres have the prestige, but it is the Trolleys that carry the vast majority of the transit customers to where they need to go. As mentioned before, Rapture's Trolley system would have been hundreds of times more extensive than that feeble view we had of the few blocks-long non-connecting routes around Olympus Heights. In the time of BS:Infinite (real-world) every little town in America had its new shiny Trolley system several times larger than what we saw in our trip through Rapture. "This city is not built with concrete and steel... it is built with ideas!" - Anton Kinkaide, Founder, Rapture Metro --- --- --- ' "Private Trolleycar Craze" ' : Some rich/influential people might as well have private Trolley cars. The tracks criss-cross Rapture and go to most important places. They would be far cheaper than private 'Bathyspheres' (that huge cost of the 'dock' facilities those required), and there's yet more room and comfort possible inside of a Trolley car, and THEY ARE not any slower to get around Rapture. Suchong would have his own : "Suchong Rather Serve Kimchi to Ravenously Polar Bear Than Go In Ocean In Round Metal Coffin ..." ( See Suchong's Residence in Mercury Suites. ) --- --- --- --- --- . .